EPA is changing the location of its National Bed Bug Summit in order to accommodate the expected attendance. The meeting will be held on April 14 through April 15, 2009, in the Sheraton Crystal City Hotel, located at 1800 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, VA 22202; 703-769-3942; Sheraton Crystal City.
EPA’s National Bed Bug Summit meeting is free and open to the public. Seating is available on a first come basis. No RSVP or advance registration is required. The Summit’s agenda (http://www.epa.gov/oppfead1/cb/csb_page/updates/2009/bedbugmtg-agenda.pdf), directions, close-by hotels, transportation options, etc., are available on the Web site (5 pp, 258K, about PDF). For those who cannot attend in person, EPA is providing a webinar for the Tuesday morning session. Instructions for participating via webinar are also on the Web site (1 p, 52.01K, about PDF). Contact Karen Angulo (angulo.karen@epa.gov) by e-mail or telephone (703-306-0404) with questions.

Meeting participants will share information on topics including the expanding impact of bed bugs on the housing, hospitality, and other sectors; factors contributing to the growing problem; and the response of the public health community and government agencies. The meeting will provide a venue to communicate with others in the diverse community affected by the increasing problem of bed bugs.Participants will also identify ideas and options for bed bug prevention, control, and management; create strategies for outreach and education; and develop recommendations for action.

]]>By: Jon Hhttp://www.theagitator.com/2009/04/15/morning-links-173/comment-page-2/#comment-262917
Fri, 17 Apr 2009 01:05:14 +0000http://www.theagitator.com/?p=12811#comment-262917“Although…it should really be the states doing that symposium, not the feds.”

Which states? The incentive would be to wait for each state to wait for another state to do it.

Given that bedbug infestations can be spread across state and national lines (in, say, luggage brought home from a trip) it seems pretty reasonable as a Federal issue.

And it’s not exactly inherent in a ‘symposium’ that it must involve a large outlay of Federal money. The attendees’ employers (probably state and local governments, and public and private universities) probably paid for transportation and housing. I doubt they rented space at the Ritz-Carlton.

I’m a little disappointed to see the Reason crowd jumping on this bandwagon of exaggeration and hysteria.

There really ARE some pretty scary right-wing extremist groups, mostly parts of the WP movement, which really ARE targeting ex-service-members for recruitment. It’s been a known problem for quite some time, and there’s no particular reason why law enforcement shouldn’t be informed about these sorts of things, which is precisely what the report discusses. Most of the “outrage” over the report has come from misrepresenting its contents and purpose by placing it in a generalized, rather than specific context.

Plus, the damn thing was commissioned under GW’s watch, making it somewhat nonsensical to claim that it’s some sort of special project of Democrats writ-large. They put out these kinds of alerts/reports regularly, including ones on leftist groups like the ALF. But people are acting as if these are the only two reports they’ve ever put out, and somehow that they should be equalized instead of realistic.

]]>By: Lucyhttp://www.theagitator.com/2009/04/15/morning-links-173/comment-page-2/#comment-262899
Thu, 16 Apr 2009 23:29:18 +0000http://www.theagitator.com/?p=12811#comment-262899I too reject federal authority for state and local authority! How about that?

Under Republicans, the war protesters are treasonous and threatening, under Democrats, it’s back to fearing right-wing militias (those being anyone who doesn’t like government.) It’s endlessly predictable.

Also, the Columbine stuff I think I basically knew, it’s been coming out for years. The article DIDN”T mention the appallingly lax response of the police, though.

Also, did anyone notice the “tips” section in the Columbine article? Unless you have real evidence that your child has sociopathic tendencies, advocating spying on their every browser visit is downright creepy. Even knowing what they’re doing at at all times is downright absurd, and part of the new, bizarre ideas about childrearing… The ones where you think that your child is either about to shoot up the school, or that there’s a molester behind every tree.

No worries…if I had bedbugs that were screwing up my sleep, I’d be pretty frustrated too. :)

]]>By: bobzbobhttp://www.theagitator.com/2009/04/15/morning-links-173/comment-page-2/#comment-262624
Thu, 16 Apr 2009 03:24:32 +0000http://www.theagitator.com/?p=12811#comment-262624Bed bugs started showing resistance to DDT in the 50’s – within a decade or so of the start of its use. Bedbugs still carry that resistance. So DDT would in the long run would be of little value. DDT is not used in much of the world because the target insects became resistant to it, not because of any ban. Mosquitos develop complete immunity in about 7 years if its use is widespread for things like agriculture.
]]>By: chancehttp://www.theagitator.com/2009/04/15/morning-links-173/comment-page-2/#comment-262605
Thu, 16 Apr 2009 01:10:47 +0000http://www.theagitator.com/?p=12811#comment-262605Then maybe this one will make youse guys feel better:

Someone steals your TV. You want a new one, so you go to a shady dude selling TV’s and you buy one – following the same logic, he stole from me, you are going to cut my losses. You then turn around and judge the thief and anyone who buys from the thief and was too dumb for knowing the TV was stolen. It’s ok to buy from the thief as long as you know the tv is stolen and you wish theft would go away.

According to the anarchist philosophy, voluntary action of cutting your losses enables the evil system to perpetuate. Saying “do as I say, not as I do” is fine as long as you aren’t judging others for doing and saying.

I continue to belabor the point not to argue with this specific issue, but to show there is not an absolute right/wrong answer. Depending on how you define evil, we are all evil people. I sympathize and tend to agree with the anarchist position, but I can’t respect the poisonous “I’m right, you’re wrong, you horrible fuckwad” attitude anymore than I respect it when I hear it from the lefties and neocons. If you are interested affecting real-world results, it’s best not to hate the minds you want to change.